Hanging in there

By Matt Murnane

29 September 2011 — 12:00am

Tom Lonergan has followed a hard road to the finals.

IT'S a question many football fans would have been entitled to ask themselves while watching their team lose to Geelong this year: How did Tom Lonergan transform himself from a third-string forward whose life, let alone career, was almost over in 2006 to the super-reliable full-back of a team on the cusp of a premiership.

For Brenton Sanderson, Geelong's former defensive coach and now the top man at Adelaide, the answer is simple. ''He's like a sponge, he just soaks up everything that's around him,'' he said.

''Obviously he's learnt a lot from his coaches, but I think more than anything he's learnt from the guys around him, his teammates. When you're playing alongside guys like Matthew Scarlett and Darren Milburn … you learn pretty quickly what it takes to be a quality key defender.

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Tom Lonergan, in 2007, bears the scars of his surgery.Credit:Vince Caligiuri

''And obviously he's worked tremendously hard at it after everything he's been through.''

That Scarlett has been one of the biggest influences on Lonergan's rapid, yet largely anonymous, development is significant. For when Cats' supporters measure Lonergan's impact on games, Scarlett's impact is becoming an increasingly relevant factor.

''Tom being able to hold down a key defensive post has been invaluable for the Cats this year,'' Sanderson said. ''He's allowed guys like Matty Scarlett to be … a bit more of a weapon coming out of defence. With Tom and Harry Taylor taking the opposition's two key talls, Scarlett is freed up a bit to take the third forward and that allows him to rebound the ball and help other guys with double teams.''

Indeed, Lonergan's rise has allowed Scarlett to flourish as a rebounding, intercepting and playmaking ace - if not to extend the All-Australian's career by absorbing his defensive load.

In the past two seasons that Lonergan has established himself in defence, Scarlett, 32, has been able to maintain career-best disposal averages - the playmaking - as well as average between three and four rebound 50s a game.

But it's Scarlett's intercepting - his marks from opposition kicks - that have ballooned to their highest numbers since 2005, that show how much Lonergan is helping not only Scarlett, but the whole team.

Unsurprisingly, Sanderson says statistics don't much interest Lonergan, an uncomplicated role player who will be one of five Cats hunting their first premiership medallion on Saturday.

''I think Tom measures himself on what he does for the team and that's it - he is so unselfish,'' Sanderson said.

Lonergan ranks second at the Cats for spoils. He has come a long way from the perceived weak link in Geelong's defensive chain that opposition clubs once targeted.

''I think in the past opposition teams tried to isolate Tom and his man deep inside 50, but I don't think they're doing that now,'' Sanderson said. ''He rarely gets beaten in one-on-ones now. He's just so hard to move off the ball.''

On Saturday, Collingwood - and to a large extent his looming match-up with Chris Dawes - are what stand between Lonergan and football's ultimate reward.

And considering five years ago he spent grand final week struggling to walk and slurring his speech - the aftershocks of a sickening on-field collision that cost him a kidney and nearly his life - it's little wonder his quest for a premiership inspires even his toughest teammates.

''It's a pretty remarkable story,'' Geelong midfielder Jimmy Bartel said. ''The injury he had was pretty much life-threatening at one stage. It's an amazing effort for him to not only get back and play AFL, but to be a key part of our defence. It was pretty motivating to see him get back. Just seeing the way he prepares for footy and what he's overcome is pretty inspiring.''

Sanderson, having watched Lonergan miss out on Geelong's 2007 and 2009 premierships and then play in the losing 2008 grand final, said he hoped the 27-year-old's fairytale comeback is completed on Saturday.

''I reckon there's three great stories for Geelong this week. One is Tom Lonergan having a chance to win his first premiership after everything he's been through,'' he said.

''The second is James Podsiadly trying to do the same thing after being knocked back by so many other clubs; and the third is Trent West playing in a grand final after working so hard for seven years to earn his spot.''